17 Mar Review: When I Visited Grandma
When I Visited Grandma
Written by Saumiya Balasubramaniam; illustrated by Kavita Ramchandran
Groundwood Books, 2024
ISBN: 9781773068336 (hardcover)
$21.99 CAD
32 pages
Ages: 3 to 6 years old
Review by Elisabeth de Grandpré
When I Visited Grandma is a companion to Saumiya Balasubramaniam’s first book When I Found Grandma. While you can read one without the other, they work great together. In the first book, Grandma visits Maya in Canada, and in this one Maya visits Grandma in India. The illustrations with Kavita Ramchandran are dynamic and bold and bring the reader to India. In both books, Maya deals with the differences between Canadian and Indian culture. I really enjoyed the beginning of this book. Maya discovers new things at the market with her grandma, but also feels out of place with her torn jeans. She gets overwhelmed by meeting many new people with different sweets, but can find time to draw and recharge when she needs to. The story shifts when Grandma goes to the hospital to the I-see-you. While the book ends positively, I’d suggest this book to parents who want to discuss sudden changes with their children, especially with grandparent’s health. It would fit into a personal or public library collection.